Electric socket



April 14, 1925.

J. HOHL ELECTRIC SOCKET Fi led March 27, 1925 ll/ [I INVENTOR JOHN HOHLI4 TTORNEY PATENT OFFICE.

some HOHL, or NEWARK, new JERSEY.

ELECTRIC SOCKET.

-Applieat1on filed March 2?, 1923. Serial No. 627,948.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN HOHL, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Newark, county of Essex, State of New Jersey, haveinvented a new and useful Electric Socket, of which the following is a secification.

y invention relates particularly to what are sometimes termed separablesockets and particularly to key sockets having bod and cap portionsadapted to be connects and disconnected.

The main object is to provide interlocking means which permit ofconvenient assembly of the parts and yet which prevent accidentalseparation.

The special object is to provide key operated means for-unlatching theparts.

In the simple form of the invention as herein shown and described, theparts are unlocked by suitable means and automatically latched andassembled. The latching means is adapted to be retracted by a specialmovement of the key s indle.

Fi 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of one form of key socketembodying the imrovements of my invention the section begg taken on theplane of the line 1--1 of Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of thesame construction, on the plane of the line 22 of Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is aplan view of the body or switch carrying portion of the socket.

Fig. 4 is an interior view of the cap portion of the socket. 1

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the latch member.

The cap 6 and body 7 may beof any suitable construction, for instance,of insulating material and provided. with interfitting flanges 8. Thecap is provided with terminal members 9 and 10 suitably secured in placeand having circumferentially ex-' tending fingers 11 and 12.

The body is provided with brackets 13 and 14 suitably secured in place,for in- J stance, b means of screws 15 and 16. The outer en s of thesebrackets and the fingers 59 11 and 12 are so designed as to permit theparts to be assembled-by relatively longitudinal and rotative movements.

The switch has two spring contacts 17 and 18 and a movable contact orcam memas her 19. The contact 17 may be secured in place, conveniently,as, for instance, by being placed under the foot of the bracket 14. Thecontact 18 may conveniently be held in place by the yoke 20 and screw21. The cam 19 is loosely carried by the key spindle 22, which in turnissupported by the yoke 20. The center contact 23 may also be held inplace by the screw 21. The screw shell 24 may be suitably held in place,for ir stance, by being molded into the body or may be held in place bythe screws 15.

The latch member 25 is carried by the end of the key spindle 22 andadapted to project into a recess 26 in the ca when the parts are intheir proper assem led relation.

The key spin le is mounted in the yoke 20 so as to permit not onlyrotation for the purpose. of operating the contact cam 19,

ut also so as to permit the key s indle to be tilted by the arm 27 ofthe yo e 20 to disengage the latch 25 from the recess 26. For thispurpose the other arm. of the yoke 20 is slotted at 28 to guide the keyspindle in the tilting action.

It will be noted that the cam 19'is always so under pressure of thespring contact 18 so as to yieldingly hold the latch bolt 25 in therecess 26. The parts carried by the cap and by the body are so designedas to permit of assembly in either of, two posiac tions one hundred andeighty degrees (180) apart, for this purpose the cap is provided withtwo recesses 26.

The invention is equally applicable to other types of separable socketthan those made of insulating material, for example it may be embodiedin the usual brass socket. Moreover certain features of the inventionmay be employed in sockets in which the switch is operated by othermeans than a key, for example in push-through sockets. It is also tobe-understood, that the latch retracting means may be inde endent of theswitch operatin members, or instance a separate exterior y accessiblebutton may be provided to control the latch bolt.

What I claim is:

1. In a separable key socket, a cap, a body having interlocking parts,engageable by relative rotation of the cap and body about 5 their commonaxis, a switch carried by one part including a switch operating memberand a latch adapted to be operated by said operating member forpreventing relative disengaging movement of said parts.

2. In a key socket, cap and body members, interlocking parts carriedthereby, a key key spindle for spindle carried by one member, a keyfixed on said spindle. and-a latch operated-by said key spindle forpreventing the separation of said members.

3. In a socket, cap and body members, interlocking arts. carried by saidmembers, a switch infiuding a key spindle and a latch bolt carried byand operated by said preventing the separation of said members.

4. In a socket, two separable members, a key spindle operated switchcarried by one member, interlocking parts carried by said members, and alatch forpreventing separation of said members operated by a non-circuitaffecting movement of said spindle.

5. In an electric socket, tWo separate members, interlocking partscarried thereby and controlled as to effectiveness by relative rotation,a latch for preventing separation of said members and alatch-controlling spindle spring-held in its normal position andswingable therefrom to release said latch.

6. In a socket, two separable members, intel-locking parts carriedthereby and renant.

dered effective by relative longitudinal and rotative movement of theseparable members, a latch carried by'one member and adapted to engagethe other to prevent relative rotation oi said members, and key operatedoperating part, interlocking partscarried by said members permittingassembly by relative longitudinal and rotative movement a latch carriedby one member and adapted to engage the other member to prevent relativerotation of said members, and means for connecting said latch to saidoperating part for operation thereby.

8. An electric socket comprising a body portion and a ca portion,members adapted to interlock sai portions by relative rotation thereof,and a bolt movable longitudinally of the body and spring pressed in adirection to prevent unlocking rotation of 60 said portions.

JUHN HOHL.

